Machu Picchu trek 13 days – Complete Itinerary
Day 1:Cusco – Cachora – Santa Rosa
We leave the city of Cusco at 06:30 am in a private bus, 4 hours away is the town of San Pedro de Cachora, on the way we will stop to visit the famus site Saywite regarded as a center of religious worship for Inca people, focusing on water. surrounded by the impressive mountain Apu Padreyoc, protector of the people half an hour more we will be arriving at the beginning of the hike Capuliyoq. It will be a moment to do the registration of Entrance to the Regional Conservation Area of Choquequirao before the Ministry of Culture, then we will begin our expedition, descending to the Apurimac canyon with a privileged view of the mountains on the opposite side. After 3 hours of descending, we will arrive to Chiquiska, place of our lunch, after lunch we will continue the descent to the Apurimac River for 1 more hour, the lowest point of our journey.
At the level of the river, we will be, a few minutes to rest, then begin our ascent for 2 hours to our camp located in the hamlet of Santa Rosa.
Hiking time: 8 hours average
Distance: 15 km
Difficulty: Difficult
Maximum altitude: 3000
Minimum altitude:: 1500 m
Temperature: 15° C
Camp altitude: 2100 m
Day 2 :Santa Rosa – Choquequirao.
Early in the morning after breakfast, we will begin the ascent for 3 hours average until the town of Maranpata, a short rest to continue to the archaeological park of Choquequirao we will take a relaxing time until lunch time, after having enjoyed the food we will begin our tour throughout the ancestral city, for the whole afternoon, in case we are accompanied with the blessing of mother earth we will have the option to observe the flight of the majestic Andean Condor, also the view of the sunset is magical and spectacular.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 14 km
Difficulty: Difficult
Maximum altitude: 3100
Minimum altitude: 2100 m
Camp altitude: 2900
Night temperature: 10° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 3 :Choquekiraw – Maizal.
We will wake up very early to start the day with a totally Peruvian and homemade coffee, we will begin the day with a brief tour of the archaeological park of Choquequirao for an average of 1 hour for the places that we could not visit on the previous day, after the visit we will begin the day with a moderate ascent of 1 hour, and then begin the descent to the next archaeological park of Pinchaunuyoq, time to explore and take and a rest, then continue with the walk down the last stretch that is steep; Here we will have a mandatory time to cool off, because the heat is suffocating due to the narrow valley of the area.
After having enjoyed lunch, we will begin the march up the mountain for an average of 3 ½ hours, until we arrive at the Maizal camp with a unique and spectacular view.
This day will be very challenging, as we will have 1500 meters of descent and 1100 meters of ascent in one day.
Hiking time: : 10 hours average
Distance: : 19 km
Difficulty: : Difficult
Maximum altitude: : 3280
Minimum altitude: : 1850 m
Camp altitude: : 3000 m
Night temperature:: 5° C
Accommodation:: Camping
Day 4 :Maizal – Qoriwayrachina Maizal
Day of exploring Qoriwayrachina, this Inca site is located up on the top of mountain, now on these days the Inca city is located in the midle of bushes some remains we can find are covert by trees, the climbing to the to the religious section is a very steep way but once you get there is a impressive the location the view all mountain range is visible.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 12 km
Difficulty: Difficult
Minimum altitude: 3050
Maximum altitude: 4000 m
Camp altitude: 3050 m
Night temperature: 5° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 5 :Maizal – Yanama
Day of great challenge because in this opportunity we will continue in permanent ascent all morning towards the pass with the best panoramic view, we will go through the Andean rainforest observing the variety of flora and fauna recommended for travelers who like bird watching, on the way we will come across the tunnels that were the silver and lead mines of Minas Victoria.
After having walked for 5 hours up the mountain we will finally arrive at the incomparable viewpoint of San Juan de Victoria, once reached the highest part of the mountain from this point we will visualize the spectacular panorama, cliffs of an immense fall at our feet, part of the canyon of Apurimac where we have been days before and of course the mountain chain of Vilcabamba. Time to take pictures and if we are lucky, we will be visualizing the flight of Condors lunch, then we will continue our descent towards the town of Yanama.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 13 km
Difficulty: Difficult
Minimum altitude: 3050
Maximum altitude: 4150 m
Camp altitude: 3650 m
Night temperature: -5° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 6 :Yanama – Qelqamachay.
For today geography is almost easy, but remember that this in the Andes there are no flat terrains, in the first hours we will descend to the junctions of the rivers of Pacchayoq and Yanama, then we will have an ascent to the area of Chungana, from this area, the walk will be bordering the mountains, always looking down the deep valleys and above us the snowy peaks of the mountain range of Vilcabamba. Hours later we will finally arrive to the Qelqamachay valley where we will start with a gentle ascent observing with admiration the rock formations with different shapes until we arrive to our campsite.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 18 km
Difficulty: Easy
Minimum altitude: 3050
Maximum altitude: 4000 m
Camp altitude: 4000 m
Night temperature: – 7° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 7 :Qquelccamachay – Incamachay
Day we will ascend to the highest part of our journey, walking in the Andes is not only to observe the dazzling nature, it is also to meet with the living culture archaeological remains left by ancient civilizations and on this special day we will be crossing the mountain following the Inca trail that connected the city of Choquequiraw with the region of Vilcabamba, From the point of view of a tour guide the most impressive trail left by the people of the past, both the ascent and descent we will be following the ancestral path, until we arrive at our camp.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 18 km
Difficulty: Easy
Minimum altitude: 3050
Maximum altitude: 4000 m
Camp altitude: 4000 m
Night temperature: – 6 C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 8 :Incamachay – Huancancalle
In terms of physical difficulty today is easy because we will descend directly to the archaeological area of Vitkus following the Inca trail that is being recovered in this area, we will pass through the entire community of Chupana to reach the next community Pillaopata, from this small town we will make our entry to our destination the capital of the Inka resistance Vitkus, we will begin our journey with a visit to the main temple the well-remembered Yuracrumi. After having explored the park we will continue in direction to the ancestral city of Rosaspata, from where we will have a panoramic view of all the mountains and Inca cities with a lot of history after the arrival of the Spaniards, immediately after having visited we will be heading to our camp in the town of Huancancalle.
Hiking time: 6 hours average
Distance: 13 km
Difficulty: Easy
Minimum altitude: 2850 m
Maximum altitude: 4000 m
Camp altitude: 2850 m
Night temperature: 6° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 9 :Huancancalle – free day.
This day Can be use to wash the clothing at same time to relax our buddy.
Day 10 : Huancancalle – Huarina. Incatambo
Early in the morning we will take a car, which will be driving us until Huarina were we will set up our comp ground, from this area, since this area we will start our hike on the way to Inca Tambo a unique Inca house located in the middle of mountains, the way is an ancient, Inca trail leading to until this magnificent area. After reaching on this complex, we will return by the same way to our campsite where we will spend the night.
Hiking time: 7 hours average
Distance: 13 km
Difficulty: difficult
Minimum altitude: 2850 m
Maximum altitude: 4000 m
Camp altitude: 3900 m
Night temperature: -4° C
Accommodation: Camping
Day 11 :Huarina – Espíritu pampa.
The sun rise on this area is unique the view is magnificent the way how the sun truck the mountains around, we will have we breakfast with this amazing dawn, after preparing our camping equipment we will take a truck with will be driving us from the mountain on the way to the jungle, descending is a unique because in few hours you will see the change of the landscape, the flora and fauna shows up very different, along the way we will cross several times streams and river until we get in the main purpose of our expedition Espiritu Pampa.
In the afternoon we will have plenty of time to explore the remains of the Inca city, some parts are still under the archeological researching, won´t be enough time.
Driving Distance: 100 km
Difficulty: dirt road
Minimum altitude: 4000m
Maximum altitude: 1400 m
Night Temperature: 15° C
Accommodation: Camping.
Day 12 :Espiritu Pampa – Kiteni – Quillabamba.
After a breakfast prepare by our cook with a local ingredient, we are exploring the rest of the archaeological complex, specially the one belonging to the Wari culture, the funeral sector where Señor del Wari was found by 2003.
After these hours exploring Espiritu Pampa, we will be abording the truck and drive on the way to Kiteni for 5 hours, where we will stop for lunch, after our lunch we will be take a local bus for 3:30 minutes on the way to the city of Quillabamba.
Driving Distance: 250 km
Difficulty: dirt road
Minimum altitude: 500 m
Maximum altitude: 1400 m
Night Temperature: 17° C
Accommodation: Hostel with a private bathroom.
Day 13 :Quillabamba – Cusco
Early in the morning we will breakfast at the Hotel then we will be abording the local bus driving us on the way to Cusco for 6 hours. The time to arribe in Cusco will be around 14:00 hours.
End of the tour:
Distance: 200 km
Difficulty: Easy
Choquequirao to Espiritu Pampa 13 Days Map
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